St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-25

tf,N & Z
ES6EaSTtkt building? Where dc
ExSNASI,YA,ELHIa they expect to get
sASILN the money to pay
81 GSe=z9sfo all this work?
&N~OSD Do they reckon Oh
AA the rich men of the
~ East to continue
buying their bonds,
and keep putting up money for them to
penetrate wild wilderneSSeS and tray
erse unknown prairies?
Twas such series of questions l
heard one Well-kn0wn Eastern capital
list hurl at fellow traveller during a
recent trip | made through New Eng
land. Of course my attention was at
tracted, and L awaited the strangers
reply with some little interest. l felt
that the gentleman against whom this
brOadSide had been directed was a West
erner-even before he spoke. After
his lips parted and his words came
forth l knew he was. There
is difference in all things
between the Eastern and Western man
no matter what his station in life may
be. The first gentleman who spoke
talked as if talking were an effort, and
he were opposed to any unnecessary
eXertiOn even in speech. He seemed to
have amaSsed a sufficiency of this
worlds goods to satisfy his wants, and
appeared content to drag out his exist
ence without trouble, worry or eXertion.
His companion was differently consti-
tuted. He spoke with vim. and his
every action was such as to show that
he was a man from the West, a man to
whom eXertiOn was pleasure, provided
he saw something ahead to recompense
him for his extra effort. He talked as if
talking were business as well as a
pleasure. and his style showed up well
when placed in contrast with that of
his easy-gOing companion from east of
the Rockies. Instead of answering di-
rect, the WeSteTner came back with the
query:
Were you ever West, my friend?"
His friend had been, but twas back
in the latter part of the sixties, just as
the country was recovering from the eff
fects of the late civil war. His recOl-
lectionS of the West, Southwest and
Northwest were of bOundless pTairies
and impenetrable forests. He had
travelled much when much younger
man, and because Staid old New Eng
land had shown no wondrOuS changes
in that time, he took it for granted that
the rest of the world was the same.
The stranger from the West then spoke /;
said he:
Il know little of the Southwest. for l
have never been there. OF the West |
know considerable, for l have travelled
through it
TO A GREAT EXTENT,
but / am now at home in the North
west. for 'tis there | migrated when a
boy; there is where / made what little
money l have, and it's there | hope to
I FILL
SOtian, living a short distance from st.
Paul. | remember the SANITY City
when its only means of communication
with the outside world was by water.
Oftentimes | have arisen out of my bed
in the middle of the night to
rush down to the levee and watch one
of the mammoth steamers plying be-
tween st. Louis and st. Paul land her
passengers and cargo. | have watched
the growth of that country ever since.
1t has grown from small trading post
to one of the most prominent CONNER
cial and railroad centerS in the country.
Its growth is due almost entirely to its
railroads. 1t was they who opened up
the way and induced immigration. If
it had not been for the roads running
west and northwest of MinneSOta's cap
ital what would that country amount
to? The fertility of its soil alone would
not have attracted the hundreds of
thousands of people now scattered
throughout the vast territory. They
wanted more. They wanted means of
communication with the stateS-I might
say with the old wOrld-means
of communication more reliable
than the old stage-cOach. They
wanted the railroads first to
open the country. This they have in a
| great measure secured. but there is still
great stretch of uninhabited. and |
might say unknown country in the great
| Northwest. 1t was the building of these
railroads which has made the country
what it is and brought the Twin Cities
| so prominently before the people of the
world. | remember when st. Paul
secured its first line to Chicago. We
| then thought the millennium had been
reached; but now with rails of steel eX-
| tending in every direction of the com
pass, can readily realize how inSignifi-
cant our railroad facilities were then.
Great as they are now, they will soon
| be increased, for each succeeding year
| there are cries for rail communication
| here, and a new road there. The
| country is too valuable to remain unset
tied. We may be compelled to ask you
| for your capital to carry on these enter
prises a little while longer, but it will
not be long before we
CAN SHAKE HANDS
with the East, thank it for favOrs in
the past and cry quits. The country
needs a few more people. They are
coming slowly, but surely, and it will
not be long before the most inSignifi-
cant road in the West will be paying
dividends larger in proportion than the
big railway corporations OF the thickly-
populated East"
l listened to this gentleman's talk. as
also did my companion. He too was an
fastener, and seemed dumfOunded
when he heard the above. Turning to
me, he asked if st. Paul was truly SO
great railroad center as the gentle
man claimed. l attempted to show him
by diagram. l drew on the back of
my card wheel, intending the spOkes
for the lines centering in ST. Paul. 1t
| was all right so far as the through
roads were concerned, but when | came
| to the proprietary lines | had too many
| spokes for my wheel. was surprised
myself. ] had no idea there were SO
many. l finally gave up the diagram
scheme in dispair, and then tried to tell
| him of the several companies and their
branches and leased lines. | told him
| of the Northern Pacific, reaching from
| st. Paul through Minnesota, and across
Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington
| territory and Oregon to the Pacific
coast, with its innumerable tributary
| lines branching North and South every
! few hundred miles; of the rapidly
proUinu Manitoba with itc half-dozan